City officials say Sandy work far from over

The Bloomberg administration touted progress made on making the city more resilient to wild weather but didn't say how much money has been spent so far.

The Bloomberg administration on Tuesday said that nearly one year after Sandy a handful of completed post-storm projects show that the city is better off even if it has a long way to go to be able to withstand the full brunt of another superstorm.

In an afternoon press conference at City Hall, Deputy Mayors Caswell Holloway and Linda Gibbs were joined by various commissioners to provide an update on what the city has been able to accomplish in the 12 months following the damage caused by Sandy.

Mr. Holloway outlined how recovery money had been spent by the city post-Sandy. Earlier this month, the administration said it has spent more than $1 billion as part of the recovery, which it is trying to recoup from the federal government.

He said initial federal funding has helped the city to complete 43 of the 57 initiatives the administration set out to finish by the end of 2013. But he was also clear that additional federal aid is needed and that questions about how local homeowners will be assisted have not been answered.

Some of the most visible improvements made in the wake of the storm, like clearing debris and getting essential utilities back on track for thousands of homeowners, were made through the city's Rapid Repairs program. Mr. Holloway said he hopes the Federal Emergency Management Agency will pick up that tab. FEMA also is expected to reimburse the city for $31,000 loans given to individuals and for the cost of setting up emergency shelters.

"The reimbursement process for that is well underway," Mr. Holloway said. "We've got hundreds of millions of dollars back from FEMA."

The city has also plunked down a lot of cash categorized as hazard mitigation, money that would go toward making public infrastructure more resilient, but is waiting on hundreds of millions more from FEMA. Mr. Holloway said the delayed reimbursement was part of the normal process of working with FEMA.

Funding from the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development has also been put to use in the city's rebuilding efforts. Mr. Holloway said a "first tranche" of $1.77 billion was being allocated toward residential rebuilding, business grants and general resiliency improvements. About $700 million of that lump sum has been pledged to the first phase of the city's "Build it Back" program, helping local homeowners with major Sandy-related damages, and who earn less than 80% of the city's median income, to begin rebuilding under post-Sandy guidelines.

"Elevating mechanicals, elevating houses… just elevating everything," Mr. Holloway said.

$300 of HUD's first tranche will be used on grant initiatives, incentivizing small businesses to plan for a resilient future, while the remainder, roughly $770 million, will be spent on city-wide resiliency programs.

Daniel Zarrilli, director of resiliency for the mayor, said that he was confident the city would make good on at least 43 of the 57 initiatives in PlaNYC’s “A Stronger, More Resilient New York” report. The projects range from emergency management planning to coastal defense.

According to Mr. Zarrilli, more than 20 such initiatives, like inclusion of resiliency spending in future city budgets and increased sand coverage on shorelines in the Rockaways, Coney Island and Staten Island, have already been completed. He expects about another twenty or so to be finished by year’s end. They include projects such as the completion of studies on coastal defense and grants to businesses.

Mr. Holloway provided little insight into another important question: how much flood insurance premiums will go up. He said homeowners should at least get reduced premiums for making home heating and electrical systems more resilient.

“We’re already seeing the phase-in of much higher premiums in flood zones,” said Mr. Holloway. “FEMA’s response so far has been 'elevate or nothing' but we need at least partial incentives to expect homeowners to start paying out to raise their mechanicals.”

Mr. Holloway added that “a big study on insurance” will be released in the near future.